Funny you mention what qualifies someone Ken. A few months ago there was uproar in the Irish MMA community. A kickboxing coach who also taught XMA started advertising MMA classes. Further to that, he also offered to run MMA coaching seminars and "certify" people. Given that nobody could actually verify his kickboxing credentials, well, you can see why there was uproar once the established MMA community over here heard about it.

I think in this age of youtube and online forums people are very savvy to what is what. There is a common consenus that any decent MMA class should include a combination of Boxing/Muay Thai/Wrestling/BJJ.

I know of schools that also teach trad MMA as part of their program, but generally at this stage of the game there is an accepted "model" of what MMA is and what "works" within the confines of the rules of MMA.

You touched on a good point though Ken, there are a lot of fly-by-night merchants who have (and still are) setting up MMA gyms with little to know experience of what they are doing. Personally I think MMA needs to be regulated, at least amateur MMA, to allow people to make sure they are training in a safe enviornment. As popular as MMA has become, it still has a long way to go in terms of orginisation at a grass roots level.

Thankfully in Ireland the BJJ community (who are heavily involved with the MMA community) are getting their act together. As well as having a national association to govern the sport of BJJ in Ireland, they are going through the process of getting formal recognition from the sport council (who also oversee Olympic sports in Ireland). They are producing a coaching qualification that anyone who wants to coach BJJ in Ireland will eventually have to acquire. They are also putting in place things like child protection policies, health and safety policies etc... It is a big step in the right direction. MMA needs something similar too IMO.

MMA is nothing more than training methodology. The arts involved can be any arts. Its whether or not they can be pressure tested and used efficiently under this pressure.

Also, the focus is on more than one range of fighting. It isnt just striking or just grappling, its the use of striking clinch and ground ranges. The reason that MOST mma is Boxing and BJJ is because that has been found to be the best skill set to work with in a COMPETITION setting.

The truth is MMA has existed much longer than the term MMA, the idea is not new, it simply got brought to the limelight with the advent of venues such as the UFC.

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"When I let Go of who I am, I become who I might be." Lao Tzu